Santa' Wayward Elf (15 page)

“I agree,” Linda said. “Now, where did you say this stakeout
was?”

Chapter Seven

Derek stared blankly at the audio recording equipment in
front of him, listening with half an ear to the conversation coming through the
headphones he wore. He’d been sitting in the fake delivery truck with Aaron and
Tony for half the day, but trying to focus on work was damn difficult when all
he could think about was Sosie. Instead of taking notes on who Sammy Saldino
was talking to and what they were talking about, he kept counting the hours
until his shift was over so he could be with her again.

It wasn’t only because he couldn’t wait to have sex with her
again—though that was part of it. He was a red-blooded male, after all, and she
was a certifiable love goddess. It was because he enjoyed spending time with
her more than he’d ever enjoyed being with another woman. Even if she had
screwed with his alarm clock.

“Hey, Derek, you goin’ to write anything down?”

Derek looked up at the question. “What?”

In the seat beside him, Aaron was regarding him expectantly.
“I asked if you were going to write anything down.”

“Oh.” He grabbed a pen from the table in front of him and
tried to remember what he’d heard. “Yeah.”

Shit, what the hell had he missed? Couldn’t have been much.
They’d had a tap on Sammy Saldino’s favorite booth for months now and hadn’t
gotten a thing. Derek was pretty sure that was because the bastard knew the
place was wired. Since Derek and his team had been listening, the guy hadn’t so
much as admitted to double parking or stiffing a waitress on a tip. That wasn’t
to say he hadn’t been talking. He’d been talking a whole hell of a lot. The mob
boss freaking talked to every lowlife and thug who came into the place. The
problem was that most of what came out of his mouth was gibberish. Endless
questions and comments about family, friends—even cartoon characters—but
nothing that could link him to any crimes. This morning, the guy had filled
hours of tape with an endless discussion on what he was buying his mother for
her upcoming birthday.

Nobody was that clean, especially Sammy Saldino. But the
asshole was smart. Which meant he had to be talking in code, passing orders and
receiving updates to and from his minions right under the NYPD’s nose. The guy
wasn’t going to say anything incriminating, so listening with half an ear
wasn’t an issue.

“Sammy said maybe he’d buy his mother a four-thousand-dollar
ring on Tuesday,” Aaron said.

Derek frowned. “Yeah. So?”

“So I thought you were going to write all these gift ideas
down in case it was a code for something.”

Damn, he had said he was going to do that. It was a long
shot, but at this point, he was ready to try anything.

It was a flat-out fact that Sammy Saldino was in charge one
of the biggest criminal operations in the city. From bookmaking to prostitution
to drugs to extortion, if it was illegal, he was into it. Allegedly, of course,
because no one had been able to pin a thing on the mob boss. After eight years
of trying, the feds had given up, so now it was up to Derek and the quickly
dwindling NYPD task force. And as the captain had told them after Saldino’s
visit yesterday, the window to catch this dirtbag was closing. If they didn’t
come up with something before Saldino filed the harassment lawsuit, the brass
downtown was going to pull the plug on the investigation.

Which was why Derek wrote down what Aaron had said even
though he didn’t remember hearing Saldino say any of it.

“Man, what’s up with you?” Aaron asked. “You seem distracted
today. You feeling okay?”

“Maybe he’s hungry,” Tony muttered from the far end of the
truck. “I know I sure as hell am.”

“Yeah, that’s it. I’m hungry,” Derek agreed. “Maybe we
should get something to eat.”

Aaron leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his
chest. “Oh, no. You’re not getting off that easy. We’ll get something to eat
after you tell us what’s going on. I’ve seen that distracted look on a man’s
face before and it didn’t have anything to do with food. I’m guessing it must
have something to do with that sweet little number who came into the division
to see you yesterday. Sosie, wasn’t it?”

Derek opened his mouth, intending to deny it, but the older
man wouldn’t let him.

“Don’t even try it,” Aaron said.

Derek chuckled, knowing it was useless. “Okay, okay. It
might have something to do with Sosie.”

Aaron glanced at Tony. “What’d I tell you?”

Tony grinned and lazily swiveled back and forth in his
chair. “You never mentioned her before. How long you been seeing her?”

“Counting today?” Derek asked. “Four days.”

“Four days, huh?” Aaron exchanged looks with Tony again.
“That’s some kind of record for you, isn’t it?”

Derek scowled. “Real funny.”

The two men laughed. Derek probably would have found it
amusing, too, if it wasn’t so damn close to the truth. While Aaron was
exaggerating, the majority of relationships Derek had been in hadn’t lasted a
hell of a lot longer than that, thanks in large part to what he did for a
living. Women might be turned on by the idea of dating a guy who came with his
own handcuffs, but quickly discovered they couldn’t deal with the late-night
stakeouts, double shifts and constant danger that went with it.

Derek swore silently. Okay, that was enough soul searching
for one day. He took off the headphones and flipped the audio to external
speaker rather than hand the task off to either of the other men. It was easier
to listen to Saldino’s conversation that way anyway.

“I’m going to get something to eat,” he announced. “Either
of you want anything?”

Both Aaron and Tony said they did, so after finding out what
the men wanted from the bodega, Derek got up and headed for the back door of
the delivery truck. He was reaching for the handle when someone knocked on the
door.

Frowning, Derek looked over his shoulder at Aaron. “Was our
relief supposed to be here already?”

Aaron shook his head, one hand going to his weapon. Tony did
the same.

Reaching inside his coat for his own firearm, Derek
cautiously pushed the door open and was stunned to see Sosie standing there
with a smile on her face and a big paper bag in her hands.

“Sosie!” Derek looked up and down the street, then back at
her. He released his grip on his gun, sliding his hand out from inside his
coat. “What are you doing here?”

She held up the bag, her grin widening. “I brought you
lunch.”

He stared at the bag, dumbfounded. “How did you find me?”

“You said you were going to be in a delivery truck down the
street from Toscalini’s.” Her smile faltered. “I thought you’d be happy to see
me.”

“I am. It’s just that…” Damn, he felt like a heel for what
he was about to do. But this was a stakeout. He couldn’t let her in simply
because she was his girlfriend. He was the lead detective, which meant he
couldn’t violate the rules. “Sosie, I appreciate the thought, but you can’t be
here.”

“Sure she can,” Aaron called from behind him.

Derek turned to look at the other man in surprise. “That’s
completely against department policy and you know it.”

Aaron snorted. “Who the hell is going to tell? Besides,
she’s already here now, so she might as well come in.”

“And she did bring food,” Tony added.

Derek turned back to see Sosie standing there looking up at
him with a hopeful expression on her pretty face and he couldn’t say no. He
checked up and down the street one more time to make sure no one was watching,
then took Sosie’s hand and helped her inside. Aaron moved across the truck to
sit in the chair beside Tony, vacating his seat for Sosie. As she sat, Derek
turned down the loudspeaker. They could still hear the audio, but barely. That
was fine since it was all being recorded anyway.

“Your ears must have been ringing,” Aaron said, giving Sosie
a smile. “We were just talking about you.”

“You were?” Sosie reached up to touch her ears under her hair.
“Why would that make my ears ring?”

When the two men gave him an odd look, Derek chuckled as he
sat down beside her. “Sosie isn’t from around here, so she’s not familiar with
a lot of our expressions.”

“That’s okay. Neither is Tony.” Aaron gave the younger
detective a grin. “Where are you from?”

Sosie hesitated a moment before answering. “Up north.”

“Up north, huh? What brought you down to the Big Apple?”

Derek saw Sosie’s brow furrow in obvious confusion. “Aaron
means New York City.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “I needed a change of scenery.”

Tony eyed the bag in her hand. “It was nice of you to bring
Derek something to eat. Don’t suppose you have extra in there, do you?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Derek mentioned he’d be working
with the two of you and I wanted to make sure I brought enough.”

Opening the bag, she reached inside and pulled out a huge
container of pasta with red sauce as well as another equally large bowl of
green salad. Derek’s eyes went wide when he saw how much food she’d actually
brought. Even with the four of them, it was still a lot.

“It’s whole grain pasta,” she said as she handed each of
them a plastic plate filled with food. “I’ve heard it’s very healthy.”

Derek dug into the pasta right away. “This is good. Where’d
you get it?”

“I made it.” She gave him one of her dazzling smiles. “I saw
the recipe on the cooking channel, so I figured I’d give it a try. I’m glad you
like it.”

Derek was impressed. He’d naturally thought she’d stopped at
a restaurant and gotten take-out. After the bread pudding she’d made for
breakfast the other day, he honestly hadn’t thought she could cook.

“Like it?” Tony loaded up his fork again. “This is some of
the best pasta I’ve ever eaten.” He gave a Sosie a wink. “I think I might be in
love.”

Derek scowled at him, then looked at Sosie. “He’s kidding.”

Sosie laughed, a blush coloring her cheeks.

As they ate, Derek had to admit he was glad Sosie had shown
up, even if it was a little unconventional. Not only was the food delicious,
but now he wouldn’t have to wait the whole day to see her. That was definitely
worth breaking the rules for. Of course, there was a flip side to that, too.
After being with her in the close confines of the truck, he was probably going
to have a raging hard-on for the rest of the day.

Man, what he wouldn’t do for a few minutes alone with her.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t come out and ask the other two detectives to take a
hike.

Aaron must have been able to read his mind because after
they’d finished eating, he announced he and Tony were going to head over to the
bodega across the street to use the facilities.

Tony mustn’t have gotten the hint because he leaned back in
his chair. “Nah, I’m good.”

“No, you’re not,” Aaron said, giving him a meaningful look.
“You have to go. Come on.”

Tony frowned, but then his gaze went from Derek to Sosie and
back again, understanding dawning on his face. He got to his feet. “Right. I do
have to go. Nice seeing you, Sosie. Thanks again for the food. Feel free to
bring more any time.”

At the door, Aaron turned. “We’ll be gone for about twenty
minutes or so.”

Sosie frowned. “Is Aaron okay?”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because twenty minutes is a long time for someone to use
the facilities.”

Derek chuckled. “I don’t think he really has to use the
facilities. He wanted to give us some privacy.”

“Oh.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh! Well, that was certainly nice of
him.”

“I’ll say.” Derek leaned in close to cover her mouth with
his. “I wanted to do that since you got here.”

“You have?” She blinked up at him in surprise. “I was afraid
you were mad that I came.”

He gently brushed her hair back from her cheek. “I could
never be mad at you.”

“Well, in that case…”

Getting up, Sosie came over to stand between his spread
legs. Derek wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him when she took
his face between her hands and kissed him. Her lips were soft and sweet as they
moved over his, her tongue teasing as it intertwined with his.

Now that he had a taste, he knew one kiss was never going to
be enough to last him until he got home and could make love to her.

But they couldn’t do it right there in the truck.

Or could they?

Before he could answer that question, Sosie lifted her head
and pulled away from him. He tried to use the time to clear his head so he
could start thinking with that instead of his dick, but then she kneeled down
in front of him and he suddenly couldn’t think at all.

Tugging open his belt, she slowly unzipped his khakis, then
shoved down his boxer briefs enough to free his hard cock. Giving him a
seductive look, she wrapped her hand around the base, then leaned forward to
slowly run her tongue up the entire length before taking the head in her mouth.

Derek groaned as her long, silky hair fell forward to brush
his thighs. Her mouth was warm and wet as she moved up and down on him, and he
groaned again as she gently cupped his balls in her other hand and lightly
massaged them. Damn, she was good at giving a blowjob.

He slid his hand into her hair, cupping the back of her
head. “Oh yeah, baby. That’s it.”

Sosie moaned and swirled her talented, little tongue over
the tip of his shaft before going down on him again. She took him deeper each
time she repeated the move until the head of his penis was finally touching the
back of her throat.

Then she swallowed.

Derek sucked in a breath.
Daaaaaaammnn!
He’d never
met a woman who could do that. Sure he was going to blow right then, he
tightened his hand in her hair.

She moved her mouth back up his cock, swirling her tongue
around the head before taking him deep again.